Saturday, July 21, 2012

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com
MANILA – A few years ago, renowned director Joel Lamangan and
Palanca-awardee scriptwriter Bonifacio Ilagan teamed up with Ricky Lee
to film the Flor Contemplacion Story, a movie based on the life of an
overseas Filipino worker who was sentenced to die in Singapore. Her
death amplified the costs of labor migration.

Yet recently, Lamangan and Ilagan teamed up again to film another
gripping portrayal of the continuing poor working conditions of overseas
Filipino workers.

“Flor’s story was a film on one individual’s life. But now, (in this
film) you will see the bigger problem. It also focuses on how groups
like Migrante are helping OFWs in other countries,” Lamangan told Bulatlat.com. The film, he added, is “telling the truth of how our local embassies in other countries are not helping that much.”

‘Migrante (The Filipino Diaspora)’ is a film that portrays the many
faces of being an overseas Filipino worker. The fates of the OFWs in the
film were intertwined by the tragic incident that has befallen Frida
(Jody Sta. Maria) and her family. It also highlighted the role of
people’s organizations such as Migrante International, which, in real
life, have been at the forefront of helping fellow Filipino migrants
workers in need.
“One of our inspirations in making this film is the accumulating
number of cases of OFWs being maltreated. The number of reported
incidents have increased tremendously that people think that it is just
an ordinary case,” Ilagan said.

Leaving the country

Frida’s children tries to convince her not to leave (Photo courtesy of Migrante (The Filipino Diaspora) Facebook account)

The scenes leading to Frida’s departure to Israel is all too familiar
since many Filipinos, including this writer, have relatives working
abroad. But it is an entirely new experience when viewing it from a
different perspective.

One could almost sense the pain that characters were feeling as
Frida’s departure neared, most especially when the children were begging
desperately for their mother not to leave. Even Jody Sta. Maria, who
played Frida, told Bulatlat.com that it is one of the scenes that struck her.
“If they had a choice, who would want to go out of this country to
work? Knowing our Filipino culture for strong family ties, no one
would,” Sta. Maria said..... MORE